On 6th June, 13:30 to 16:30, at the Richard Jefferies Museum, Coate Water, SN3 6AA, there is a workshop: Smart Reading for Smarter WritingMartin Malone£20 Members/£25 non-membersSome bursaries are available for members (email poetryswindon@yahoo.co.uk)

On 9th June, it’s Open Mic Night at the Savernake Community Centre, Savernake Street SN1 3LZ with guest poet Jill Sharp, celebrating the publication of her new pamphlet 'Ye gods'. Bring poems of your own or favourite poems to share with the audience.£3 members/£5 non-members

Visiting the Festival this year with poetry and workshops are Jo Bell as poet in residence, Kei Miller, Luke Kennard, Tania Hershman, and Pascale Petit plus many more exciting voices and experiences.

Battered Moons Poetry Competition is open for entries until 30th June. For full details visit www.batteredmoons.com

The next Artswords Reading Group takes place at 7.30pm Tuesday 16th June at Lower Shaw Farm. The book is H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. ’To train a hawk you must watch it like a hawk. . . . The hawk’s apprehension becomes your own.’ A story of the hawk’s taming and the author’s un-taming. Costa Biography Award winner.

This month’s Writers’ Café and Kitchen takes place from 6pm on Thursday 25th June at Lower Shaw Farm. Cost £2. Starts with pot-luck supper from 6pm. If you can, please bring something to nibble or drink, to share with others. Following acclimatisation with food and friendly chat, we take time to look at our writing. You may simply read your work for up to 5 minutes; or, if you’d like your work to be the subject of helpful comments and discussion, bring 10 copies of one piece of writing. This should amount to no more than 500 words of prose or 40 lines of poetry.

Note. This month we shall be welcoming local storyteller Chris Park to assist with and inspire our story-telling. We now also welcome anyone with 5-minute stories to tell. If you have a story, to tell, not read, and ideally a story from your life, please bring it along.

Other News:The Richard Jefferies Museum has a programme of Writing Workshops and Literature events for children and families. Please see www.richardjefferies.org and click Education for full details.

Long-time multi-tasking Artswords soul and helpmate Hilda Sheehan is concentrating on Poetry Swindon Festival and events, plus projects at the Richard Jefferies Museum, and related work. Stepping into her shoes at Artswords, especially on the social media and networking front, is word and Swindon-friendly and Annie Vickers, whom we welcome.

If you want to keep abreast of Literature development projects that Artswords will be organising or supporting, you can follow us via this monthly newsletter, or updates on Facebook and Twitter (See links below the newsletter), or on our website http://artswordsswindon.blogspot.co.uk/p/latest-news.html

If you have any news or events for July that you would like to share with other readers of ARTSWORDS NEWS, please let us know by the middle of this month.